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Showing posts from January, 2025

A Famine of the Word

There is a frightening prophecy in the book of Amos: “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it’” (Amos 8:11-12). I have no idea whether this prophecy was ever fulfilled in the past. If not, it is, of necessity, still future. It certainly is not in the present. In this world we have places where the Word of God is very accessible. The supply is greater than the demand. There is a famine in the midst of plenty because people are not reading the Word. There are places where the Word of God is not available at all. People do not know it is not available. They are in a famine and do not know that they are in a famine. There are still other places where there is a famine and people know it. They are eager for Bibles. T...

Therefore

“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:1-5). “That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, f...

Slow to Anger and Abounding in Love

One of the great God’s great self-declarations was given by Him to Moses on his second trip up the mountain in Exodus 34:6-8: “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.’” We see here the truth that upset Jonah: “But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:1-3). God was not angry. Jonah, however,...

What the Bible Says About Giving

“Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ …Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:19-21, 23-24). “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. C...

Partial Obedience, Partial Repentance, Partial Belief

In recent days,* I have been struck again by the partial repentance of the kings of Israel and the partial repentance of the kings of Judah. Here are two examples from many. Israel: “Yet Jehu was not careful to keep the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, which he had caused Israel to commit” (2 Kings 10:31). The last sentence was said of every king of Israel. Judah: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not as his father David had done. In everything he followed the example of his father Joash. The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there” (2 Kings 14:3-4). This last sentence was said of Amaziah and his son, his grandson, and his great-grandson. Amaziah was one of the good kings of Judah. Hezekiah, his great-great-grandson, turned things around: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done. He r...

Your Dwelling Place

“How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God” (Psalm 84:1-2). “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). “Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:1-2). “Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:6). “No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun...

What God Says about Idolatry

I have been overwhelmed this last year* with God’s expressions of His view of idolatry: Disobedient: “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me” (Deut. 5:7-9). Stupid: “But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats. Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:4-8). Demonic: “Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but...

Doers of the Word

  This post was written by Matt Meyer, CCM board member and director emeritus. “Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law plead against them” (Proverbs 28:4). After a number of weeks of coming for counseling, a young Chinese woman recently* called on God to forgive her sins. For several weeks before that, she was sure that God was real and good and that she was a sinner, but she was having a hard time connecting her sin with the death of Christ on the cross. When she was asked to describe what she meant by “being a sinner,” it was clear that her focus was horizontal instead of vertical. She thought she was sinning against her husband, her family, and herself. When she finally understood that our sin (or lawlessness as John describes it) is first against God, the lights came on. “I’ve broken God’s laws,” she repeated numerous times as the realization finally hit home. Do we have the same sense that we are breaking God’s laws when we avoid Bible passag...

A Holy Estate

“‘Haven’t you read,’ he replied, ‘that at the beginning the Creator “made them male and female,” and said, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh”? So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate’” (Matthew 19:4-6). The marriage service says that marriage is a “holy estate.” Christian marriage is more than physical, economic cohabitating and child-bearing and rearing. It is a spiritual fellowship; it is an earthly picture of Christ and His body, the Church.   “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with wa...